Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer graphics and, more specifically, to techniques for viewing and searching documents included in collections of documents.
Description of the Related Art
Searching through large collections of documents, such as finding a particular research paper or set of research papers from within a large collection of research papers, can be a long and tedious process. Reviewing hard copies requires defining and obtaining a subset of documents, visually scanning each one, and expending substantial time reading candidate papers before the desired document is finally identified.
Digital libraries and browsing tools greatly improve the ability to find relevant material, allowing search based on textual metadata and analysis. Conventional keyword search may narrow the range of documents. However, in order to further explore a paper, the researcher must first download the document, then load it in an external portable document format (pdf) viewer, and finally read the document. This activity disrupts the flow of the literature review process.
Further, conventional browsing tools do not allow a researcher to use any of the visual qualities of the paper, such as the graphics and layout, to make a decision on whether further review is advisable. The appearance of a document, including figures within the document, equations, layout, as well as other visual qualities, all can provide the researcher with valuable clues to relevance of a document.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is a more effective technique for rapid exploration of large collections of documents and content.